Seaways – August 2019

Read Seaways online at http://www.nautinst.org/seaways August 2019 |  Seaways  |   

have an opportunity to practise their shiphandling at
sea, but a simulator permits immersion in realistic
scenarios where the common causes of shiphandling
failures can be addressed. In particular, he cited
simulators as being excellent for teaching people
spatial awareness and giving them an understanding
of the effects of weather and currents.
Stephen Gosling of Videotel gave an interesting
presentation on modern audio-visual training
techniques, describing the change from traditional
training videos to more interactive methods that
appeal to younger seafarers and can be useful for
self-assessment. He set up a virtual reality booth in
one corner of the conference room so delegates could
immerse themselves in modern technology.
NI CEO John Lloyd described The Nautical
Institute’s DP accreditation scheme. This has been a
tremendous success, as readers will know, and John
gave an excellent description of how it has benefited
several generations of shiphandlers in the offshore
industry.

Pilots – the ultimate experts
The final session of the conference was led by a
panel of pilots – possibly the ultimate experts on
shiphandling. Capt Jason Choi, Vice President of the
International Maritime Pilots Association, described
the difficulties of handling modern ships. These have
poor course-keeping ability and insufficient power if
they have been optimised for economic steaming, he
said. His home port of Incheon has a tidal range of 10
metres and limited room to manoeuvre. That problem
is widespread, he said, because ships are getting much
bigger but ports remain the same size!
We then heard from Capt Wong Xiao-tian, a
senior pilot in Tangshan who is an expert at berthing
Valemax bulk carriers on an exposed jetty with
currents of up to 2 knots. He described the problems
of dealing with large fishing fleets in the area and
co-ordinating up to seven tugs and more than 100
people who are involved in every berthing job.
Capt Cai Bin is a senior pilot in Shanghai. He
discussed the berthing of large passenger ships – up to
three a day – in a river with strong currents. He took
issue with the manning arrangement utilised by Nick
Nash, saying the pilot should be seated at the front of
the team so he can see what is happening. He claimed
some passenger ship captains lack shiphandling skills,

and suggested some of them spend too long in the

simulator and not enough time on the controls of a

ship. It was an interesting paper, and his difference

of opinion with Capt Nash was a fascinating topic for

debate, but time did not permit us to go into detail in

Hong Kong.

Capt Luo Jin-song is a senior pilot in Shenzhen.

He described the difficulties of moving 20,000teu

container vessels through the Tonggu Channel to

his port. Again, he mentioned the poor turning and

stopping abilities of large modern container vessels,

although he conceded that some are better than

others. Windage, of course, is a problem on all of

them. When you include a current running across the

channel and the presence of a large fishing fleet, the

problems are multiplied.

Finally, Capt Stephen Wong of the Hong Kong

Pilots Association gave an excellent description

of the changing pilotage techniques that have

been adopted in Hong Kong to deal with modern

vessels, particularly the world’s largest container and

passenger ships.

At this point it seemed we had defined the

problems of shiphandling in the modern era and

the tools available to assist with training, and if we

had been granted a few more hours we could have

reached some useful conclusions about a sensible way

forward.

At the end of the session, delegates were asked to

rank the main causes of shiphandling incidents in an

anonymous poll. The majority cited lack of effective

shiphandling training as the most prevalent cause.

Unfortunately, we were only 10 minutes away from

our deadline, so it was left to John Lloyd to give a

masterful summing-up of the conference before we

adjourned for the cocktail party.

Ashok Kumar Sharma

Benjamin Wong

Steve Gosling

Kersi Deboo

Jason Choi

Wong Xiao-tian

Cai Bin Attendees at the AGM

Jillian Carson-Jackson

Feature: Shiphandling, Masters, pilots and more